A 7 th Grade Guide

Typing  12 pt. Times New Roman font  1” margins all the way around  Double space entire paper  Indent each paragraph 5 spaces

Format Header (Right-aligned; Last name page number – each page will contain your last name and page number, even the Works Cited page) First Page Heading (Left-aligned; Name, Teacher’s name, Subject/Class, Date) Title (centered – do not underline it or place quotations around it) No Title Page

Mistakes to Avoid Do not use personal pronouns such as, “I,” “you,” “your,” “we,” etc. Do not use contractions, spell them out (cannot, do not, will not, are not, etc. Write in present tense, not past tense. Do not conclude with, “That is why…” “I hope you enjoyed…” “I hope you learned…” Spell out numbers, unless it’s a date.

Book Source Author (last name, first) (title of book) (publishing city) Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Penguin Putman Books, (publishing company) (copyright date)

Encyclopedia Source (author – last name, first) (title of article) (title of encyclopedia) Barnes, John. “Tsunami.” The World Book Encyclopedia ed. Print. (copyright date)

Article Source (author – last name, first) (title of article) Stillwell, Kathy. “A Deadly Wave.” Readers Digest. Jan. 1999: 66. Print. (title of magazine or newspaper) (publication date) (page number)

Internet Source Brown, James. “Physics of Tsunamis.” West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. 6 Sept West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. 7 Mar Web. Note: No need for URL

Documentation: Parenthetical Citations Place in the paper within parenthesis Contains author’s last name (if available) and page number If no author, the title of the source should be placed in parenthesis along with the page number in which the information was found. If you use the author’s name to introduce a quote or if citing information that is not your own, only place the page number in parenthesis. Period is ALWAYS placed after the citation

Parenthetical Citation Examples Mitty Blake’s ethics are similar to those of teenagers in the 21 st century. The era of iPods, cell phones, and text messaging has taken the country by storm and has allowed a nation of youth to practice laziness as a fine art. For example, Mitty has had four weeks to complete ten pages of notes for his Advanced Biology research paper. The day before his notes are due, he finally begins writing (Cooney 29). Due dates seem to have less meaning to Mitty just as they do for many teenagers who have yet to develop work ethics. Caroline B. Cooney uses foreshadowing in order to captivate her audiences. For example, she ends chapter one of Code Orange with, “In this case, it was the shelf life of Mitchell John Blake that was uncertain” (14).

Periodicals A periodical is any newspaper, journal, or magazine article. Periodicals can be print or non- print. (Write Print or Web) In order to find periodicals, the Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) is an excellent source.

Works Cited page Center the words “Works Cited”at the top of the page. Do not underline, bold, or italicize the font. Citations should be placed in alphabetical order no matter what information is first. Citations are formatted with “reverse indentation.” It is called a “hanging indent”. This means that the second and all subsequent lines are indented. Example: Faust, Phyllis. Antics of 7 th Graders. New York: Delacorte Books, Print. McIntosh, Amanda, Kayla Pigg, and Kathy Troncale. “English in Middle School.” The English Journal 13 Apr. 2009: Print.